Angel Otero's 'Agua Salada' at Hauser & Wirth Somerset Blends Memory and Magical Realism

The UK debut exhibition of Angel Otero, titled 'Agua Salada' (Salt Water), has commenced at Hauser & Wirth Somerset and will be on display until 18 October 2026. Born in 1981 in Santurce, San Juan, the Puerto Rican artist, who studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, produced the showcased pieces during a six-week residency at Durslade Farm. Otero is recognized for his Oil Skin series, initiated in 2010, where he layers paint on glass, removes it, and then reassembles it on canvas. The exhibition includes an outdoor sculpture, 'Dreams and Salt' (2025/2026), located in the inner cloister courtyard, and features recurring themes—doors, bedframes, pianos, and clocks—acting as connections between memory and the present. Family photographs are collaged at the periphery of recognition. In 'A Sailor Before the Mirror' (2026), Otero depicts himself as a child with his grandmother, merging into a wave. The ocean symbolizes both a point of origin and a storage of complex memories, including his godmother's last days and his father's story about land crabs from his grandfather. Otero also filmed his first movie, presented at H&A, within his grandmother's home, featuring a Spanish voiceover. The exhibition's title signifies saltwater as an ocean, a chemical process, and an emotional experience.